Electric vs Gas Heating

[NHW]

couldn't find any topics relating to this in particular so just thought i would ask.

I am looking to purchase a house (1950s) and when i went to view it yesterday i saw that there seemed to be no existence of a boiler or even any radiators in the house, there wasn't even any bracket marks on the wall to show that there had ever been any radiators in the house, so i can only assume that the house never had central heating. The agent didnt know much either, was there to just open the door.

There was a gas supply, which i found under the stairs but to be honest not 100% sure what it would have been used for since there was no gas supply in the kitchen either and was all electric.

Its a modestly sized 3 bed semi and basically needs a full refurb either way, what i'm thinking now is that it either needs a full central heating system installed (28kw boiler and 9 radiators) along with the full piping-up since there is no existing pipes, which at the low estimates would come in at around £3,500 and high estimates around £4,500?

because every room has electricity and i have seen these smart Wifi radiator panels for around £150 each depending on heat output (£1,350 approx total), you also get the benefit that each individual radiator can be individually and remotely controlled and do on/off schedules for each one.

for the shower i would essentially get a Mira electric shower (£300), and for hot water in the kitchen i could just get one of these new instant hot water taps with a combi tank which will also dispense warm water (£500).

I know that electricity heating will cost more in terms of energy usage than central heating overall but with a possible £1,350-1,850 saving overall and the fact that even if we were to get central heating the wife would want a hot water tap anyways saving another few hundred £. Trying to make up my decision as to what would be best, any advice would be appreciated, i'm sure i must be missing something that I've not thought into? Thanks

 

[stem]

With electric heating it is pretty much 100% efficient. For 1kW of electricity you get 1kW of heat. And that doesn't change whether it be panel heaters, fan heaters, oil filled radiators. [Heat pumps use electricity and can have higher efficiency. Under ideal conditions some claim to be 300% efficient. In which case for 1kW of electricity consumption you may get 3kW of heat but that's another story]

However as a rule of thumb, for running costs, electricity per kW costs 3 times that of gas. So to heat a 1950's home which may not have insulated cavity walls I would expect the heating cost to be in the region of £500 per year with gas and £1,500 with electricity.

Electric storage heaters will reduce the running cost, but they can be difficult to control, and can sometimes run out of heat in the evening and will still cost more than gas to run.

Having lived in houses with both types of heating, and as you have a gas supply already, In your situation, personally I wouldn't even contemplate heating with electricity.

 

[ianmcd]

You have a gas service pipe, highly unlikely it will still be live , you will need a new supply

 

[NHW]

With electric heating it is pretty much 100% efficient. For 1kW of electricity you get 1kW of heat. And that doesn't change whether it be panel heaters, fan heaters, oil filled radiators. [Heat pumps use electricity and can have higher efficiency. Under ideal conditions some claim to be 300% efficient. In which case for 1kW of electricity consumption you may get 3kW of heat but that's another story]

However as a rule of thumb, for running costs, electricity per kW costs 3 times that of gas. So to heat a 1950's home which may not have insulated cavity walls I would expect the heating cost to be in the region of £500 per year with gas and £1,500 with electricity.

Electric storage heaters will reduce the running cost, but they can be difficult to control, and can sometimes run out of heat in the evening and will still cost more than gas to run.

Having lived in houses with both types of heating, and as you have a gas supply already, In your situation, personally I wouldn't even contemplate heating with electricity.

ahhhhhh ok thats was what i was missing then. Yeah i guess when you look at the overall picture the gas element could save you thousands in the long run and also the resale value when you come to sell will be abit niche if you dont have a boiler in the house. Thanks for that

 

[NHW]

You have a gas service pipe, highly unlikely it will still be live , you will need a new supply

Ah ok, to be honest i have no idea what it actually was but i was pretty sure it was something to do with gas because the one next to it was definitely the electric meter, so i had assumed that the other meter next to it must have been the gas one.

ah in that case, would getting a new supply be something that i would need to fork out for or will a utility company pay for it if i took on their services? also would you happen to know an approximate cost? Thank you btw

 

[ianmcd]

yes that should still be live or the meter will have been removed, be aware you will be paying a standard charge for having that meter whether you are using it or not

 

[endecotp]

That's a gas meter.
Is there a gas cooker, or a gas fire somewhere?

The fuse box is old and lacks modern safety features; you should budget to replace it at some point.

 

[NHW]

Ah right so it seems weird that the person must have been paying the charge daily and just never had a gas appliance? seems kind of strange that.

As soon as i noticed that there was no boiler i was basically on the hunt for any gas appliance in the house and literally there was nothing that i could have found that would use gas, no boiler, no gas cooker or even a gas pipe in the kitchen, no gas fireplace etc

Yeah i just realised how that looked and i will for sure budget that into the cost of the refurbishment.

this gas thing is still puzzling me though haha